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I'm considering making the switch into a computer engineering field, either with software engineering, computer engineering, or network engineering. However, I only have some programming experience and an Accounting degree(3) years out of college. Is it unheard of to make the switch into the profession? Should I get a graduate degree in one of the subjects and take it from there? Is it feasible to get into a decent graduate degree program based on my academic background?
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Oct 8, 2012 22:30
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The Atomic Man-Boy posted:I'm considering making the switch into a computer engineering field, either with software engineering, computer engineering, or network engineering. However, I only have some programming experience and an Accounting degree(3) years out of college. Is it unheard of to make the switch into the profession? Should I get a graduate degree in one of the subjects and take it from there? Is it feasible to get into a decent graduate degree program based on my academic background? I don't think you need a CpE degree if you want to do software engineering. I don't think you strictly need a CpE degree for network engineering, but I've seen people turn into network engineers (glorified IT) after a CpE degree. Of course, if CpE is what you want to do (digital logic design, FPGA work, embedded systems design, etc) than it may be the way to go. I'm getting more of a software vibe from your inquiry though. e: FWIW, with the skills to back it up and some networking, you probably don't need a new degree for software or network engineering.
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Oct 8, 2012 22:36
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You just need to find the right course. One of my friends who was always rather excited by networks did a one year course in network engineering, got some experience and now he's travelling the world as a network security expert. The majority of the software engineers that I know did their training via computer science degrees.
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Oct 8, 2012 22:54
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I should expand a bit about what I said earlier. I got a degree in accounting, but its really miserable and repetitive. Certainly programming can be repetitive at times, but at least you're solving problems and building towards something. I mentioned programming earlier because it's what I know, but I'm not good enough to be a professional yet. I am much more interested in systems engineering, because it appears to be a more "holistic" approach. Which suits my ways of thinking, I'm project oriented, like new challenges and ways of thinking, and I'm a "big picture" sort of thinker, as opposed getting overly stuck in the details. I like devices a lot, so I was considering computer engineering or computer science. But lets be honest, I don't have the math background to make the switch at the moment. (Not that I'm bad at math) So I'd like to get professionally competent as soon as possible. I'm not afraid to take a master's degree, if its necessary. To throw a wrench into things, I'd like to move back to Asia when possible, and a masters from a reputable university would throw its weight alot harder than talent or competency would (sad but true.)
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Oct 9, 2012 04:32
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All engineering courses include math papers. You get a lot better at mathematics during the papers and they teach what you need as a basis for your course. A computer science degree is easier in many ways than an engineering course. If you want to be good enough to be a professional programmer that is what they teach during the degree. There are a lot of important things to learn that you'll only learn during the course. Computer Science generally has a lower requirement for mathematics. You could be looking at four years of study depending. A Masters degree is fine if you want to add on to a further specialty to an existing degree, or to take a specialist degree. It's not a requirement to do a masters if you have a computer science or engineering degree. If you find a suitable course a masters does offer the chance to get into a field within a one or two year course. I switched from Chemistry to a specialist masters in engineer degree over two years which my entire business centres around. Switching like this is not unheard of but you will need approval from the department.
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Oct 9, 2012 04:59
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I'm going to a meeting in Atlanta for Biomedical Engineers, and I'm hoping to network and/or get a better grasp on what I want to do by going. What should I do while I'm there? I see they have science fair-type presentations and the like, and workshops on interviewing/resumes. What should I take advantage of?
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Oct 9, 2012 05:43
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Devian666 posted:I don't usually help people with their homework and it's also been a long time since I've done statics and dynamics. I'll give some hints as I can't remember how to complete this.  Thanks for this. Just curious, how much more complicated does it become with two masses? We've ust been given a project for 10% of our grade that deals with two masses.
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Oct 9, 2012 15:21
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Pollyanna posted:I'm going to a meeting in Atlanta for Biomedical Engineers, and I'm hoping to network and/or get a better grasp on what I want to do by going. What should I do while I'm there? I see they have science fair-type presentations and the like, and workshops on interviewing/resumes. What should I take advantage of? Short answer - you should use it both for your professional growth and networking. From professional growth perspective I suggest you download the agenda and sessions summary and identify presentations which are either interesting to you or close to your area. Poster sessions and exhibitions present the best networking opportunity. Depending on the "style" of poster session you may have a chance to talk to authors. This is good both for understanding details of their research as well as networking. If this event includes exhibition (and looks like it does) - make sure you walk around and talk to company representatives. Keep in mind that those are usually technical people and they don't care about HR so don't be too persistent about employment, but you still may get an "informal advice".
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Oct 9, 2012 18:12
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huhu posted:Thanks for your tips. Sadly this is a control systems class and it seems like he expects to already know how to do these kinds of problems even though the only time I've really done anything with springs was Physics I or F=kx in my intro dynamics class. We have one lecture, one professor, no extra class for review with the TA. Not much harder. Presumably you have some experience with solving systems of ODEs. Usually for N masses you will have N coupled 2nd order ODEs. In some cases the number of ODEs is reduced (e.g. if two masses are connected by a rigid linkage), and in some cases the number of ODEs is increased (if any masses have more than one degree of freedom).
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Oct 10, 2012 06:31
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huhu posted:homework stuff One recommendation I have is looking over in the SAL subforum of Ask/Tell, they tend to be very helpful with homework issues.
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Oct 10, 2012 22:07
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Ingenium posted:One recommendation I have is looking over in the SAL subforum of Ask/Tell, they tend to be very helpful with homework issues. I tried there and got one person to help me and then that person realized they had no clue what they were doing so I figured I'd try here. Also, I'm working on CAD architectural drawings for an Engineers Without Borders project. The way I do CAD drawings for mechanical engineering is draw a dimension or note once and then not repeat it. The lady that is correcting my drawings keeps adding notes and repeating them. One example is that there is an access hatch and I labeled it once as "Access Hatch". She has labeled it every time the access hatch shows up which is in several drawings. Is she an idiot or is this the way things are done for architectural drawings? huhu fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Oct 11, 2012 |
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Oct 11, 2012 19:14
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Assume the people reading the drawings are dumber than you. Label everything so there is no ambiguity. This helps when you're trying to get a subcontractor to fix their work without them back charging extra labour (as in you prove beyond a doubt their work is defective).
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Oct 11, 2012 21:28
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huhu posted:Is she an idiot or is this the way things are done for architectural drawings? Consider this your first experience discovering how many idiots there are in the work environment. I explained your experience to the cad technician that sits beside me. He was completely unsurprised. Most drawings coming into the office need to be fixed so that they are usable. Quite often drawings turn up all drawn on one layer or with file sizes so large that the drawing is almost unusable on a cad workstation with good hardware. Then you get architects which will change things on the drawings and refuse to cloud the changes so you have to play spot the difference. I could go on but you'll find that there are a lot of people with skills and knowledge well below your expectations.
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Oct 11, 2012 22:51
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huhu posted:Also, I'm working on CAD architectural drawings for an Engineers Without Borders project. The way I do CAD drawings for mechanical engineering is draw a dimension or note once and then not repeat it. The lady that is correcting my drawings keeps adding notes and repeating them. One example is that there is an access hatch and I labeled it once as "Access Hatch". She has labeled it every time the access hatch shows up which is in several drawings. Is she an idiot or is this the way things are done for architectural drawings? Label everything, every time, then hope to hell the shop guys read about 1/4 of it. (I do a decent amount of system layouts - If someone has to use your work to build something, label it everywhere.) Yes, you were supposed to use Sch.80 PVC for everything, and yes I've found 3 Sch.40 pieces. Yes, you're going to have to fix it. It didn't say that on the drawings? Here let me show you where every single PVC item is labeled Sch.80 and it's listed in bold letters on every drawing. Lots of new guys out in the shop, it's been a bad month for rework.  e: To clarify, our shop guys are awesome and will catch mistakes we make and bring them up so we can get it corrected. It's just good practice to label everything. TrueChaos fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Oct 12, 2012 |
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Oct 12, 2012 00:49
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For the drawings that leave the office everything is on the drawings because we know no one bothers to read the specifications despite the fact that they include critical information. Although one recent large job I'm sure no one has looked at the specifications or drawings. I'm pretty sure there's a good chance I will be telling the data contractor to remove the cables he's installed and to start again so the fire walls can be fire sealed. Other contractors are trying to tag out of work that is required to complete the building. The project manager has explained that no items are to be tagged out of the contract. For some reason a lot of developers have been accepting critical items being tagged out of the contracts and wondering why it costs more money to finish the building. In terms of rework I saw a lot of requests for variations on the last project I turned down every variation relating to my field. For every item that a variation was requested it was in the documentation. Contractors will make any excuse to blame engineers for their gently caress ups. So label your drawings extensively.
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Oct 12, 2012 01:44
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The reasons developers are happy to tag out critical items is because they don't know anything and their CFOs and finance people are perfectly happy to accept a reduction in cost. It is exactly the same as an internal procurement branch pushing for cost savings on both non-labour items and subcontractors because all they see is the bottom line. Woe is anyone who would question the quality of the cheaper option. This is an expensive mistake that gets made over and over again and is something I have chalked up to the short term fiscal memory of commercial industry. I will always try to push back by using experience / solid numbers from previous projects but more often than not the business perspective is all about the upfront costing; to hell with how much labour it takes to get a cheaper part to work we saved some cash getting it 
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Oct 12, 2012 02:01
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Anyone want to critique my resume? I'm a fourth year civil engineering but I'll be doing a fifth year due to an illness that made me miss some courses in second. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/50588381/Pretend%20Resume.pdf Thank you for any input or advice. Edit - I've also made a revised version that includes my current design project. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/50588381/Pretend%20Resume%202.pdf Capri Sunrise fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Oct 13, 2012 |
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Oct 13, 2012 20:59
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Wilhelm posted:Anyone want to critique my resume? I'm a fourth year civil engineering but I'll be doing a fifth year due to an illness that made me miss some courses in second. No need to worry about that. It's pretty common for Engineers to go to school for more than 4 years. No one will bat an eyelash at that. No need for the references section.
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Oct 14, 2012 02:05
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Does anyone here know anything about the engineering side of the mass transit industry or about LTK Engineering in particular? I'm thinking about heading that way after I graduate, since it's something I'm really interested in.
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Oct 14, 2012 20:17
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I'm thinking about going to university because I currently have a dead-end job with no prospects. I'm a big fan of motorbikes and racing and there's a university near me that offers a degree in Motorsport Engineering. It sounds pretty fantastic and interesting but I can't help thinking that it would be severely limiting compared to say if I went for Mechanical Engineering instead. Does anyone here know anything at all about Motorsport Engineering and it's prospects?
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Oct 16, 2012 08:19
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Frankston posted:I'm thinking about going to university because I currently have a dead-end job with no prospects. I'm a big fan of motorbikes and racing and there's a university near me that offers a degree in Motorsport Engineering. It sounds pretty fantastic and interesting but I can't help thinking that it would be severely limiting compared to say if I went for Mechanical Engineering instead. Does anyone here know anything at all about Motorsport Engineering and it's prospects? I have never heard of it. You are absolutely better off getting a degree in mechanical engineering and finding a job in that field.
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Oct 17, 2012 04:09
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Frankston posted:I'm thinking about going to university because I currently have a dead-end job with no prospects. I'm a big fan of motorbikes and racing and there's a university near me that offers a degree in Motorsport Engineering. It sounds pretty fantastic and interesting but I can't help thinking that it would be severely limiting compared to say if I went for Mechanical Engineering instead. Does anyone here know anything at all about Motorsport Engineering and it's prospects? Year 1 Motorsport & mechanical are identical. Year 2 Motorsport engineering is the same as mechanical except motorsports do Performance Engineering (no clue what that is) instead of Instrumentation and Control. Year 3 (Final year for BEng students) Motorsport engineering: Individual project Motorsport Group Project Advanced Performance Engineering Motorsport Aerodynamics Motorsport Vehicle Dynamics Professional Development and Management Module selected from Advantage list Student must choose 2 modules from below: Vehicle Dynamics Finite Element Analysis Thermodynamics Fluid Mechanics Stress Analysis Dynamics Analysis Experimental Methods and Data Validation Design for Performance Telematics Intelligent Transport Systems Advanced Materials and Manufacture Mechanical engineering: Individual project Mechanical Group Project Stress Analysis and Dynamic Analysis Fluid Mechanics Thermodynamics Professional Development and Management Module selected from Advantage list Student must chose 2 modules from below: Finite Element Analysis Vehicle NVH Reliability and Durability Telematics Intelligent Transport Systems Advanced Materials and Manufacture Additionally, mech: Accreditation from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) (subject to re-approval) and fulfils the benchmark academic requirements for Chartered Engineer (CEng) status motorsports: This course will be submitted to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for accreditation So basically, motorsports is identical to mech eng until the third year, when it does a bunch of more specialised electives. Unless you can get a job in that particular narrow industry, you would be less employable. I would sooner do mech. You can still get motorsports jobs with a mech eng degree.
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Oct 17, 2012 07:33
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Yeah, niche degrees are notoriously difficult to land good jobs with. Things rarely work out the way we envision. You're way better off getting a degree that says "Mechanical Engineering" and picking all your electives for motorsports than getting a degree in motorsports. That way, if you end up in motorsports, great; if not, you still have a highly marketable degree.
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Oct 17, 2012 10:45
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boxorocks posted:Had a look at that thread; fwiw it's not so much a discussion on engineering pros and cons but more an attempt to draw conclusions about political ideology based on the profession (complete with anecdotal pissing contests of course). One could say "terrible people will have terrible political ideas regardless of profession". About a page late. I think a lof of that thread was undergraduates whining about the "gently caress you got mine" sort of classmates that engineering attracts due to the high starting salary and good job prospects. I once had a classmate talk about how good it was that Pinochet increased military funding and bought weapons from the US - that's the sort of poo poo I think is a problem. To say that our profession doesn't have some problems is a bit rash. Just last year a friend of mine was offered a position at a branch of a very, very well known company after her co-op terms, but told to consider "whether she would want to have kids some day and be a mother". I'm actually afraid to work in certain industries because I can imagine quite a few people having a problem with working under a black supervisor.
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Oct 17, 2012 20:59
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Oh, most definitely; sexual and racial discrimination are still issues that society is still trying to grapple with at large, an issue we see trickle down into work places in all professions. Fortunately (at least where I am  ), we have managed to at least grasp some basic legal framework to handle discrimination in the workplace. It isn't the best, but it is a good start and it does force companies to accept responsibility for when they're being shits.The very last thing I want to accept in my workplace is the discrimination of an individual based on gender, age or race. Which is kind of why I will encourage my workmates and friends when they raise something like this to know the law and protections they have Frankly, a workplace that treats everyone with respect has a better level of unity, problems get raised when they can get fixed and generally everyone has a good time. Hopefully I am not alone in this viewpoint. We do, as a profession, struggle to have a good balance of genders in engineering; I don't have an easy answer as to why, but the female engineers that I have worked with have been brilliant at their work so far and I wish there were more of them.
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Oct 17, 2012 22:41
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boxorocks posted:
As a semi-entitled brown male, my understanding (at least in the States) is that young girls/women are picked on by society for being "smart", and a lot of dudes I think find smart women a huge threat. There are a lot of programs out there though that are focused on getting women into STEM, which is nice. Sad that the programs are needed in the first place to level the playing field though. Now though, if we want to talk about quotas in terms of race and gender... :worms:
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Oct 17, 2012 23:26
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So I've spent the last week or so applying for summer internships at lots of 'big' engineering firms in the UK (EDF, BAE, National Grid etc) but last year I got nowhere, so I'm looking to broaden my search a bit. Does anyone know of any small or medium companies in the power generation or aeronautical field who could make use of a 3rd year Mechanical Engineering student? Or is there a way to look for such companies? My interests lie mainly in fluid dynamics and CFD but anything would be great.
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Oct 18, 2012 00:36
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Waarg posted:So I've spent the last week or so applying for summer internships at lots of 'big' engineering firms in the UK (EDF, BAE, National Grid etc) but last year I got nowhere, so I'm looking to broaden my search a bit. Does anyone know of any small or medium companies in the power generation or aeronautical field who could make use of a 3rd year Mechanical Engineering student? Or is there a way to look for such companies? My interests lie mainly in fluid dynamics and CFD but anything would be great. I wouldn't recommend being overly specific in summer work. Any engineering is good experience as a student. Try Mott MacDonald. I'm not sure that I'd call the company small or medium (as I used to work for the Australasian brand of the company). They do mechanical engineering and CFD. The office I worked in also did industrial design (of any type) and power generation projects. http://www.mottmac.com/
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Oct 18, 2012 03:23
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Mechanical Engineer here. I graduated last May with my BS, and I am currently working on obtaining my MS by 2014. I have one goal in life, and that is to not spend 40 hours a week sitting in front of a computer for the next 45 years of my life. I am working part time at a large construction company doing field engineering. I enjoy the work, but you get very short notice on where your next assignment will be, and its looking like most people are being sent to a different continent to work. I love traveling, don't get me wrong, but working in the middle of Africa or the Middle East is not the ideal location for me. I enjoy pretty much all the core subjects of Mechanical Engineering, with the exception of dynamics, and enjoy doing hands on work. I've looked at jobs with Lockheed/Boeing since I find aerodynamics interesting, but I'm concerned about getting lost in a large company. I also think working on boat engines would be interesting, but I have no real experience with boats. tdlr: what career path in ME could I take where I wouldn't be stuck in an office 90 percent of the time?
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Oct 18, 2012 03:49
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Anyone have any opinions on which of the various options is the best calculator to use for the FE/EIT exam?
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Oct 18, 2012 04:22
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If you like RPN get one in the HP-30 series. If the thought of not having an equals sign is ridiculous to you then I find I prefer the TI over the Casio layouts. None of the math will be that hard so just make sure you're comfortable with the arithmetic operations.
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Oct 18, 2012 04:31
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John McCain posted:Anyone have any opinions on which of the various options is the best calculator to use for the FE/EIT exam? Casio FX-115es is the one you want, and it's under $20. Just make sure you do your prep and practice tests with it so you can figure out how to use all of its functions.
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Oct 18, 2012 05:01
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SB35 posted:Casio FX-115es is the one you want, and it's under $20. Just make sure you do your prep and practice tests with it so you can figure out how to use all of its functions. This is the best one. All you need to do to pass the FE is do some practice problems to get familiar with the calculator and know where stuff is in the reference handbook so you don't waste time looking for an equation. If you have half a brain and do those two things you'll pass easily. nbakyfan posted:tdlr: what career path in ME could I take where I wouldn't be stuck in an office 90 percent of the time? I know places like Schlumberger (or any petroleum exploration/drilling operation) would love to send you out to oil rigs for a few years. Down side is, you're in the middle of nowhere a lot.
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Oct 18, 2012 05:19
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nm.
SeaBass fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Oct 18, 2012 |
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Oct 18, 2012 06:13
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ME field talk: Look into mining operations. (A lot of) Mining companies are DESPERATE for MEs. Mining is pretty interesting in my unbiased (not) opinion, and deals with some of the worlds largest/most impressive equipment. Look into "Draglines" or Cat's 797 if you need convincing. If you're not into mining operations themselves...Cat & Joy are obvious options, but some international companies like Liebherr could be a good in as well while allowing good room for career progression. EIT test talk: I really enjoyed using the only TI with multiview. I found multiview more helpful than any function in upon it self, and I know pretty much everyone I took the test with who had one loved it as well. Should be like $35 or so.
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Oct 18, 2012 23:01
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quote:Desk jobs suck. If you rather not say the name, can I maybe get their initial? Is it Ki? KB? Be? UR? Ha? Sh? As far as moving around goes, how short of a notice are we talking about? Field/Construction engineering is a lot of fun, but it also comes with quite a bit of uncertainty as the projects come and go. **Edit I would stick in construction but maybe search around for a different company. Different companies do different things. (Although sometimes poo poo is the same everywhere.) You could try working for the owner of a power plant of any other industrial facility. The job is usually stable, you can get away from your desk and the pay is good. Senor P. fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Oct 19, 2012 |
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Oct 19, 2012 00:19
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Senor P. posted:If you don't mind my asking, which construction company lets recent graduates do overseas jobs? For the one I'm working for it looks like you'll need at least 4-6 years before they'll send you anywhere outside of the U.S or Canada. Its not that I'm worried about getting sent overseas right after graduation, its more around the time when I am 30 that I am concerned about, and may possibly have a family. I just do not want to have a job where I know I will have to be switching geographical locations every 4-5 years. I really enjoy field engineering. Very few people at my job (chtelb) are stuck up, every one gets a long great, the work is interesting, and its pretty badass working on a multibillion dollar job on site. I've heard people getting as short as two weeks notice sometimes, though I'm sure that is not always how it is. One of the people I work with found out two months ago that they'll be leaving the country at the end of this month. Power is a great idea to look into. I actually applied to work at a coal fire plant one summer, but unfortunately wasn't selected. I spent a summer working on a TVA ash pond as a field tech though if that counts a couple years back and built some good relations with a couple engineers at TVA (I was working for a consulting firm then). For the guy taking the EIT/FE: The review books they sell on Amazon that guarantee that you'll pass if you use them, it is because the problems in the book are way harder than the ones on the exam. My only advice is to brush up on your economics. I wasn't familiar with how to use the tables that were given, and probably missed 5 or 6 problems that should have been easy. Still passed though! nbakyfan fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Oct 19, 2012 |
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Oct 19, 2012 02:46
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Can anyone tell me about EngineerAid.com? Are they a good/reputable website? I'm thinking of signing up to do some volunteer project work to add something recent and relevant to my resume, because temp jobs at call centers and warehouse sure as hell ain't helping (in two months I get to celebrate 4 years and 0 interviews since graduation). Otherwise, if you know of any place that lets me volunteer my time/effort without have to ship off overseas, I'm open ears.
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Oct 19, 2012 03:23
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nbakyfan you could always try to find jobs with companies that are strictly domestic. The pipeline company I work for has a couple of engineers that are based out of regional offices but most of the year they're traveling around to various compressor stations to provide technical support on construction and maintenance.
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Oct 19, 2012 03:29
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If you enjoy doing hands-on mechanical engineering stuff you could try looking at manufacturing engineer jobs. Many of these require mechanical engineering degrees and pay the same. On an average day (at Lockheed) I'd say I spend about 20% of the time in my office and 80% of my time on the manufacturing floor or in the machine shop. Working at a shipyard like Bath Iron Works or Electric Boat might be good too. Those guys always seem like they're hiring and I doubt they'd expect you to know anything about shipbuilding for an entry-level position. nbakyfan posted:Mechanical Engineer here. I graduated last May with my BS, and I am currently working on obtaining my MS by 2014. I have one goal in life, and that is to not spend 40 hours a week sitting in front of a computer for the next 45 years of my life. I am working part time at a large construction company doing field engineering. I enjoy the work, but you get very short notice on where your next assignment will be, and its looking like most people are being sent to a different continent to work. I love traveling, don't get me wrong, but working in the middle of Africa or the Middle East is not the ideal location for me. I enjoy pretty much all the core subjects of Mechanical Engineering, with the exception of dynamics, and enjoy doing hands on work. I've looked at jobs with Lockheed/Boeing since I find aerodynamics interesting, but I'm concerned about getting lost in a large company. I also think working on boat engines would be interesting, but I have no real experience with boats.
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Oct 20, 2012 17:08
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